How to properly heat a sauna with wood - step-by-step instructions for lighting the stove

Before you become a full member of the fraternity of light steam connoisseurs, you need to figure out how to properly heat a sauna.

For an uninformed citizen, the process of firing a sauna stove looks something like this: throw firewood into the firebox to keep it burning, and enjoy the procedure that people around the world love. In reality, everything is much more complicated. You need to not only know how to “throw wood into the firebox” correctly, but also what fuel is best to use, how it differs, what rules must be followed to achieve maximum comfort during bathing procedures, etc.

How to heat a sauna correctly

Fuel selection

When kindling, you can use firewood from different types of wood:

Thuja, pine, spruce. They are inexpensive and burn out quickly. The main disadvantage of the fuel is the content of resins, which settle on the walls of the chimney and do not burn out.
Birches. They flare up quickly, burn long and evenly. When burned, they release a pleasant fragrant aroma that fills the bathhouses. It is recommended to use fresh, dried wood.
Duba. This breed has a high heat transfer rate. Prepared logs can be stored for a long time without loss of quality. Burns for a long time and heats evenly. The disadvantage is the high price.
Acacias. High thermal conductivity. Provides uniform heating.
Aspen, poplar, linden. They have low density and burn out quickly. Do not provide strong heat.
Hornbeam. They have a high thermal conductivity. The flame is smokeless, the burning is long, even, the heat is strong.

A separate type of solid fuel that is gradually gaining popularity is pellets and briquettes. The first are granules that are made from sawdust by pressing. The latter are similar to bricks, made from sawdust of different sizes. The main advantage of these types of fuel is long burning and intense heat.

Not all logs are good for kindling.

Much in the bath business depends on the choice of firewood. It is better to give preference to hardwood species: oak, ash or maple. Birch brooms steam well, and the logs of this tree give off good heat in the oven. Therefore, it is also recommended to take a closer look at this option.

The efficiency of firewood from fruit trees is slightly lower, and it is not harvested on an industrial scale. But if there is an opportunity or you decide to get rid of apple trees or pear bushes on the site, they are also good for heating stoves in the bathhouse.

Coniferous woods perform poorly in generating heat. In addition to the fact that they quickly burn out and release tar deposits, increased formation of soot negatively affects the chimney, clogging it. Also, you need to discard the following firewood:

old logs give off an unpleasant odor when burning;
Rotten wood produces little heat, but a lot of ash;
old impregnated boards are completely unsuitable for a bath;
Young oak logs do not have high heat transfer.

Knotty firewood also does not show its best side. Typically, this type of wood burns faster. But if these are birch logs, then they can be used for the initial ignition.

Bath procedures will be beneficial only if the kindling technique is followed correctly. Follow the recommendations given and then no carbon monoxide or high temperatures will spoil your “sacred ritual”.

Preparing and cleaning furnace equipment

Before you start heating the stove, you need to prepare the combustion chamber. To do this you should:

Use a scoop to clean the ash chamber. Remove soot and remaining ash from the grate.
Prepare logs. They should be stored in a firewood rack, which can be placed in the dressing room.
Carefully inspect the heater. Rinse it with water if there are no stones inside.
Fill the boiler with water if there is not enough water.
Attention should also be paid to the presence of traction. To do this, you need to open the damper on the chimney, the combustion chamber door, and the ash pan. Light a match or splinter and bring it to the door. If the flame rushes towards the combustion chamber, there is draft. If the flame does not move, you should check the chimney.

The last stage is preparing the ignition medium. More often, newsprint or birch bark is used. You can buy a special liquid composition for ignition.

It is prohibited to use gasoline for kindling.

Firewood storage

It is necessary to prepare firewood in advance, because after chopping and subsequent drying, it dries completely after a year. Before heating the sauna, you need to thoroughly check all the firewood; it must be absolutely dry. When wet logs are burned, heat transfer is minimal, and a lot of wet steam is formed, which immediately cools the channels in the stove, and condensation settles on the cold walls. This can render the entire chimney unusable.

The operation of the stove and its efficiency depend entirely on the quality of the firewood. They must be dry and also have the same size, their thickness should be approximately 6-8 cm. At the very beginning, it is better to use small dry pieces for kindling; shavings, wood chips, birch bark or paper are suitable for initial ignition. Never use kerosene or gasoline.

Firewood should be stored in dry, ventilated areas or under sheds. In the cold season, before lighting the bathhouse, it is best to bring firewood into the room to warm it up.

Starting a fire

Before starting a fire, it is necessary to “seed” the grate. To do this, you need to cut the stumps into logs. Next, perform the following steps:

Place two logs parallel to each other on the grate.
Break the bark into pieces and place them between the logs.
Place two more sticks on top parallel to each other, but in a different direction in relation to the first row.

Fire making process:

Using regular or fireplace matches, set the paper or bark on fire.
Wait 3 minutes for the flame to burn.
Close the combustion chamber door.

After 5 minutes, a hum should appear, which indicates that the wood has started to burn. It is necessary to close the blower door, leaving a small gap.

Preparing the oven

When you decide on the choice of bath fuel, it’s time to prepare the stove itself for the fire dance. Things are not so simple here. In order to light a stove quickly, you need good draft. A fire will not burn without good access to oxygen.

For this reason, it is necessary to thoroughly clean the furnace mouth and vent from combustion products - ash and coals. The grate on which the firewood is stored must be clean and its slots must not be clogged.

When the furnace is prepared, water is filled into the boiler and barrels, the furnace valve is wide open - the most exciting moment comes. You can start heating the oven!

I really love this mysterious process of making fire, when a tiny scarlet flame becomes a greedy red flower. It jumps from log to log, filling the entire mouth of the stove.

Tossing

Manipulations are carried out if:

the steam room did not warm up well;
the logs burn too quickly;
all the fuel from the previous fuel burnt out;
burning slowed down.

The first firewood should be added 10 minutes after the seed starts burning. Fuel adding process:

Open the combustion chamber door.
Use a poker to smooth out the remaining logs.
Place firewood on top. The ends of the logs should extend beyond the grate.
Fill the combustion chamber to 2/3 of the total height.

In winter, the bathhouse is heated for about 6 hours, in summer - 3 hours. This time is enough to reach the required temperature and warm up the steam room. The duration of heating depends on the area of the room, the material of the building, the power of the furnace, etc.

At a hardware store you can buy a door for the combustion chamber made of heat-resistant glass. The products look attractive; through the transparent partition you can admire the flames and assess how busy the firebox is.

Firewood or coal?

At first glance, coal appears to be an attractive fuel. However, coal burns differently than wood. Having caught fire, the briquette gives off the first portion of heat with lightning speed, and then smolders for a long time. This pace is suitable for heating a house, but not for bathing procedures.

Compared to coal and gas, wood is almost ideal. They are not explosive, give a uniform, long-lasting combustion, and are relatively inexpensive. Firewood can be replaced with other solid fuel, but not coal, but wood products - for example, fuel pallets.

How to determine that the steam room has warmed up?

To check you need:

Heat for at least two hours.
Enter the steam room, open the door, start the ventilation if it is forced. If it’s natural, turn the curtains.
Take a small amount of water with a ladle and throw it onto the heated stones.
If the water quickly evaporates with a hissing sound, the steam room is preparing for bath procedures.

After this, you need to throw another portion of water onto the stones, close the ventilation curtains, and close the door.

You also need to pay attention to the end of the combustion process. To complete the procedures correctly, you must:

Carefully open the combustion chamber door. See what condition the firewood is in, whether it needs to burn out.
Level the remaining logs and coals with a poker. Close the door.

After this, you can begin bathing procedures.

Recommendations:

Firewood must be stacked so that there is a 5-10 mm gap between the individual elements. This is necessary for air circulation.
Between the upper wall of the combustion chamber and the fuel you need to leave 20 cm of empty space.
To save fuel, you can close the pipe valve, but this is dangerous because smoke can enter the bathhouse.
During the combustion process, it is necessary to monitor the color of the flame. If it has a bluish-yellow tint on top, it means carbon monoxide has accumulated inside the firebox. At this moment, the valves must not be closed, as this may lead to a fire.

The optimal moisture content of firewood is 20%.

How to heat a sauna with an electric heater?

How to heat a sauna with an electric heater

Electric heaters do not require such a serious and meticulous approach to preparatory measures. Having installed, connected and loaded stones (recommendations on all these points should be individually clarified in the instructions for a specific electric sauna stove, since provisions in this regard may vary depending on the characteristics of the model), the unit is started for the first time.

This is done like this:

The electric oven is started via the main switch. In most models, this element is installed at the bottom of the case;
the heating temperature is set to 50 degrees;
an hour after setting the specified temperature, the oven turns off.

When the electric oven is turned on for the first time, foreign odors may be released. At first, this can be regarded as a variant of the norm. If the odors do not disappear after the first 2-3 starts, you should either replace the stones, or, if this does not help, contact customer service.

The second heating of the sauna with an electric stove also has its own characteristics. It differs from the first firebox only in that the temperature is set at 80 degrees, not 50.

Pay attention to the recommendations

During the first two fires, pouring water on the stones is prohibited - this can lead to their rapid destruction. Having completed the second fire in accordance with the instructions and not finding anything unusual or alarming, the stove can be put into permanent use.

During use, the soap stones that come with an electric heater usually change color. This phenomenon should not alarm you - such metamorphoses are associated with temperature changes and exposure to water.

How to light a stove with raw logs?

Kindling stages:

Chop the raw logs into slivers.
Place them together to form a cone.
Place crumpled paper or shredded bark inside.
Open the furnace vent to maximum.
Light a torch and use it to light paper or bark.
Open the blower door to maximum.

The stove needs to be melted with wood chips for 15 minutes. After this you can add small sticks. Logs are added when there are enough coals and the walls of the oven are warmed up. To speed up the kindling, it is recommended to use a liquid ignition composition.

To ensure that moisture leaves the wood faster, raw logs must first be sprinkled with salt. Wait 10–15 minutes, clean off the salt. After this, you can start lighting the stove.

If wood is stored outdoors, logs or hemp should be laid out in rows so that adjacent rows do not touch each other. They should be located under a canopy. The edges can be covered with thick plastic film to protect from slanting rain.

Classic bath

The classic Russian bathhouse is most often heated by wood stoves. They may differ in design from each other in some way, but the principle of operation is the same. It itself is built in a separate room, or it can be placed in some large building. Inside it has at least two parts: the steam room itself and the dressing room. Fans of contrasting procedures, if space allows, also build a swimming pool. Walls are best built from wood. Old Russian baths were always built like a log hut, only the windows and doors were cut down to a small size, this was done so that the heat inside would be better retained. Modern buildings are built from different building materials; their choice on the market is now huge. But in any case, the interior decoration should only be made of natural wood. At high temperatures and humidity, the use of synthetics is strictly prohibited.

Safety precautions

Safety regulations:

Damaged ovens must not be used.
It is necessary to regularly clean the chimney to prevent smoke from entering the bathhouse.
It is prohibited to use chemicals or liquid fuel for kindling. Compositions for igniting stoves are allowed for use.
Firewood cannot be stored or dried close to the walls of the stove.
There should be a sheet of metal under the ash hole to protect the floor from coals falling out.
Do not leave the oven door open during combustion.
Bathrooms should have proper ventilation.
After each fire, you need to clean out soot and ash from the combustion chamber and ash drawer.
You cannot fill the firebox to the very top.

The following cannot be used to light stoves:

painted boards;
old clothes, rags;
plastic products, rubber;
rotten, rotten logs.

Garbage not only clogs the firebox and chimney faster, but also emits a pungent, unpleasant odor.

Algorithm for lighting a sauna stove

There are four stages of lighting a bath; consider each of them in detail.

Preparing the oven

The stove and bathhouse need to be prepared. You need to put things in order in the bathhouse - remove leaves, wood chips, and any debris. The stove must be cleared of ash. For this you need a poker and a scoop.

Check the cleanliness of the heater. Rinse the stones themselves with water. Bring dry firewood to the bathhouse. Place them at a distance from the stove to prevent stray sparks from flying.

Next, determine the presence of traction. It is necessary for the release of carbon monoxide. It is necessary to open the firebox door, the vent and the smoke damper of the chimney. Light a match and bring it into the firebox. The flame goes up - that means everything is in order. If it doesn’t work, you’ll have to clean the chimney. Without cleaning, you can get burned in such a bath. The chimney can be cleaned with a wire brush or brush. Carefully sweep away all the soot and check the traction again.

Some owners know how to check traction without a match, simply by a breath of air.

Kindling process

Kindling is ignition with dry wood chips. Or small, well-dried firewood. The chimney needs to be opened, the ash pan also opens 6 centimeters. For better ignition, you can use paper and a torch. Crumpled paper and wood chips are laid out and set on fire without special liquids.

Loading firewood

After the wood chips have burned out, you can load firewood into the stove. Firewood should not fill the firebox to the ceiling. You need to leave about 25% free space. Freely circulating air will help the wood burn better. First you need to place the paper on the coals and lay dry firewood on top, leaving a gap between them. Paper will make firewood faster. Firewood should be stacked closer to the door so that all the heat does not go into the chimney.

Loading firewood

In order for a brick oven to fire correctly, it must be periodically topped up with firewood. How often to do this depends on the moisture content of the firewood, its size and the draft force in the stove. You can increase the burning rate by pushing the ash pan almost all the way in and opening the chimney halfway. The stones will heat up faster. You must remember to heat the water if there is no special tank on the stove.

If the chimney pipe is very hot, you need to open the chimney wider and do not add firewood yet.

On average, you can heat a sauna with wood in 3–4 hours. In winter the process will be slower. Before finishing the kindling, you need to check for carbon monoxide residues. To do this, stir the coals. If blue-green flames are noticed, gas still remains and heating must be continued.

It is necessary to properly heat a brick oven to the maximum, that is, load it completely, and not in small portions. It is necessary to add firewood if the bathhouse is not heated.

Final stage

At the end of the kindling process, the damper, vent and firebox must be closed. The bathhouse is ventilated for about 15 minutes, then boiling water is poured over the walls to create steam. Impatient lovers can take the procedures immediately, but it is recommended to leave the bath for 1-2 hours. At first the steam will be hot, the lightest steam is obtained at the end of your stay in the steam room. All the wood will burn out at that point, leaving only smoldering coals.

After completing the bath procedures, the room must be dried. Forced ventilation is rarely installed in private baths. In order to dry the steam room, open the window, the door and throw several logs into the firebox. The stove becomes a ventilation element. Excess moisture disappears in a couple of hours when doors and windows are open.

Proper lighting of your sauna is a guarantee of the benefits of wellness treatments

Firing a stove is an art, and for many of us, a ritual. Let's take a closer look at how to properly heat a bathhouse.

Basic rules for using the oven

Before putting firewood into the firebox, the heater, ash chamber and grate must be cleaned.
This is necessary to ensure air access to the burning fuel. It is worth noting that combustion worsens the moisture content of firewood; to avoid this, they must be dried. Firewood must be placed with gaps and so that there is at least 20 cm to the top of the firebox. You cannot burn with painted wood, bitumen, roofing felt and plastic. Do not overheat the heater: cracks may appear in its lining. When there is no bluish-blue flame in the firebox above the formed coals, and this is a sign of combustion of CO2 (carbon monoxide) or, as it is also called, carbon monoxide, the procedure can be considered complete. After a few minutes, close all flaps and doors tightly.

One of the main tips on how to heat a sauna to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning: do not light the heater late in the evening. If it works on hard coal (anthracite), install the valve so that it does not close tightly and there is a gap of at least 1-1.5 cm.

First, the stove is heated with small wood. Then coal, 5-6 cm thick, is poured onto them. After the coal burns completely, its layer is increased to 15 cm. But no more, otherwise fuel costs will be uneconomical.

Once the fire is complete, rake any remaining coals onto the grate. There they will be well blown by the air flow coming from the blower.

When there is no grate, the coal is raked towards the stove outlet. If gas formation in the firebox is abundant, a flame may erupt.

As a rule, this happens when they try to light a heater with a flammable liquid (kerosene, gasoline, etc.). A critical concentration of gas can trigger an explosion, which can not only destroy the stove, but also cause a fire.

Advice from the master!

Another recommendation on how to properly heat a sauna that is worth remembering. It is not advisable to load the firebox with new portions of fuel, especially fine-grained fuel, covering the entire fuel that is heated under the heater. It will only “languish”, releasing a large number of volatile substances and not flaring up as it should, due to the lack of flame, as well as a decrease in temperature.

The concentration of gases will jump sharply, and at the first appearance of fire an explosion may occur. Because of this, fine fuel must be loaded into the stove in small portions, thereby allowing it to flare up gradually.

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Shall we flood the bathhouse?

Bath procedures represent a whole ritual for which you need to carefully prepare. Every steam fan should know how to properly heat a sauna. To do this, you will have to understand some of the intricacies of this art.

Before carrying out the procedures, of course, it is necessary to heat the room well. Modern people use various equipment: electric or gas boilers. But real lovers only value wood heating. After all, it is the smell of firewood that gives that unusual atmosphere, the bathhouse spirit. How to heat a Russian bathhouse? This is an entire art that can be mastered with some effort. Well, practice will help you quickly master all the tricks.

How to quickly flood a bathhouse from a dressing room and the best way to do it

There are clear rules and proven methods for heating a steam room. They are followed to avoid risks associated with burns and fire. Let's consider the main points that will help save fuel and provide thick steam:

We place wood chips in the kindling compartment of the stove. You can get them yourself, for example, by grinding or peeling dry firewood.

To ignite, place paper under the shavings, but do not set it on fire.

In addition to this, you can light a flame:

Using birch bark.
Dry flammable substance.

Photo from the site Dubrava-orel.ru

Or light the wood chips by hand at no extra cost. This method can slow down and complicate the process, so it's best to purchase everything in advance.

Place medium-sized firewood on top of the ignition and sprinkle with another portion of shavings.
When all the above steps have been completed, set fire to the paper.
Close the kindling door to prevent smoke from entering the steam room.
After 10 minutes we check whether the firewood has flared up; if not, then repeat the above procedure.

If all is well, do the following:

Open the furnace compartment slightly.
We open the damper, which releases steam to the boiler and heater.
We open the valve leading to the chimney.

Make sure that there is the required amount of water in the boiler; add moisture if it has evaporated, otherwise the boiler may burst.

Once successfully lit, continue to monitor the fire. To prevent the flame from going out, add a new portion of wood after the old bars burn out. Before doing this, use a poker to push the burnt remains deeper into the heating element. Stir the coals periodically to ensure even burning.

Regardless of the location of the stove, in the dressing room or in a specially equipped room, the kindling technology is no different from the above.

How to heat a new sauna for the first time

There is nothing complicated about the first kindling; first you need to burn it:

Burn the paper in the upper cleaning hole.
Add some small chips or firewood to the paper.
Leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
After the procedure, open all doors for ventilation for a day.
With each subsequent burn, increase the oven warm-up time.
In the future, the kindling technology is no different from what we wrote above.

Photo from the site Dachniki.xyz

How to wash soot in a bath

After each bath procedure, it is necessary to clean the room from the soot layer. The use of the following products is not recommended:

water;
liquid or laundry soap;
sponges;
hard brushes;
spray bottle.

These products can be used when the surface is completely free of soot.

It is mandatory to use personal protective equipment:

robe;
rubber gloves;
headdress;
glasses;
gauze bandage or respirator.

There are two ways to clean a bathhouse from soot: with mechanical devices and cleaning with chemical compounds.

Mechanical devices. You can use a spatula or a sharp scraper. This type of cleaning will require a lot of time and effort. To make your work easier, experts recommend a grinding machine. Then remove the resulting dust with a clean cloth and soapy water.

Cleaning with chemical compounds. The easiest way, according to the instructions, is to use liquid chemical compounds. Simply spray the product onto the contaminated surface and wash off after a while. Such preparations contain alkali components that quickly remove soot from a wooden surface.

Important! Do not use abrasive cleaning products for cleaning.

You can use a chemical sponge. It is impregnated with special substances that quickly and safely remove soot and soot from wood.

After all cleaning work, rinse the surface with clean water and wipe dry.